Brooke Dilling: student activities professional, triathlon competitor and cake lover.

Brooke Dilling, interim director of Student Activities, has the long lean walk of a runner as she heads towards the Cimarron Café for a late latté. She is a woman who likes a challenge, which is one reason she went from associate director to interim director one year ago.

The offer came at a crucial juncture. After five years in Student Activities, Dilling “needed a change." Was it enough of a change? “There’s a big learning curve.” Now, with a whole department to supervise, Dilling must handle the budgetary side and the supervisory role. “It’s a good challenge.”

And she gets to keep doing what she loves best. “There’s similar student contact which, to me, is why I’m here. To work with students.”

Dilling got her undergraduate degree in 1996 in interpersonal communications and leadership (University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point) but wanted to leave Wisconsin. A search led her to the University of Denver, where she was hired as a hall director. Her master’s degree in higher education and student development was paid for “...and I got to move to Denver.”

“I don’t think I was ready (for school to continue),” she admits. “The first year was tough. But, here I am, still using my higher ed degree.”

If running a department is not enough of a challenge, Dilling always has actual running to fall back on. She started over four years ago when she got an exuberant puppy.

“Maude is my yellow lab/golden retriever mix. She has lots of energy. I was at a point where I was being kind of lazy. It was much easier to run with her than try to keep her on a leash.”

Running became an enthusiasm. “The races were goals,” Dilling explains, “My dog was my training partner.”

The 2005 Nike Women’s Marathon was her first race. “Last year I did the New York Marathon. I had a much more fabulous time in New York than I probably should have. I want to do it again. I need to redeem myself.”

But marathons are no longer enough for Dilling: she has moved on to triathlons. “I’m getting bored with just running now. Triathlons—that will get me through the summer.”

Her training consists of three days a week running (30-50 miles over the week), biking and swimming the rest of the week.

“I swim here over the lunch hour. I come before work.” People give her training and workout tips. There are “always good people” at the pool at Metro State.

She signed up for the Boulder Peak triathlon at her coach's urging. “You’ll have fun,” he said.

But it’s going to be on July 22, “the trifecta of horrible.” Dilling rolls her eyes as she talks about the heat, the mile-long swim, the 30-mile bike ride. “My goal is to finish and to feel mentally focused all the way through.” She wants to rise above the negative mindset that can happen at the last grueling leg of the race. She will remind herself, “You did this because you can, because you enjoy it.”

Then she admits to her deepest motivation, “That and the big piece of cake when I’m done.” What kind? “I don’t know that there’s a piece of cake I don’t like.”